Polk, Palmeiro chosen to Collegle Baseball HoF

Ron Polk believes he wouldn''t be Hall of Fame material if not for the players he has coached.

That''s why he is glad to be inducted into a Hall of Fame with one of his former Mississippi State players.

Polk and Rafael Palmeiro will be two of 10 players and coaches who will be inducted to the College Baseball Hall of Fame on July 3 in Lubbock, Texas.

"This is the third year for this to be in existence," Polk said. "It''s really nice in Lubbock. I went to the first one when Will Clark was inducted. I appreciate the committee picking me, but I''m really excited I''m going in with one of my former players."

Clark was inducted to the College Hall of Fame in 2007. The other half of the Bulldogs'' "Thunder and Lightning" will get the nod this year. Clark and Palmeiro led MSU to the College World Series in 1985.

"We have Will Clark in the first group, Rafael in the third and maybe a couple of others on down the line," Polk said. "Rafael was the left fielder and Will was a first baseman, but they were both good hitters with power. We had (Palmeiro) for three years and he was very productive. Then he went on to have a great career in professional baseball."

Palmeiro was a three-time All-American from 1983-85. He was the first Triple Crown winner in the Southeastern Conference in 1984 with a .415 batting average, 29 home runs and 94 RBIs. He was inducted into the MSU Hall of Fame this past year.

Polk, a volunteer coach at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, had a 1,373-700-2 record in 35 years. He took three teams (MSU, Georgia and Georgia State) to the College World Series.